factbox: Bitcoin’s march to the mainstream gathers pace

FILE PHOTO: A representation of virtual currency Bitcoin is seen in front of a stock graph

LONDON (Reuters) – Bitcoin hit a record high just shy of $65,000 last week, the latest landmark on the emerging asset’s march to wider acceptance. Its gains have been fuelled by growing acceptance among major U.S. companies and financial firms.

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Here are some steps from big companies, large investors, banks and payment processors that have pushed bitcoin closer to the mainstream in recent months:

INVESTMENT

Dec. 2020:

* British fund manager Ruffer Investment Management says it made a bet on bitcoin worth in December around 550 million pounds ($765 million).

Jan. 2021:

* Investment bank JPMorgan Chase & Co says bitcoin could hit $146,000 if it becomes an established safe-haven.

Feb. 2021:

* Carmaker Tesla Inc announces it bought $1.5 billion in bitcoin and says it will soon accept the cryptocurrency as payment for its vehicles.

March 2021:

* Morgan Stanley becomes the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealth management clients access to bitcoin funds, CNBC reported.

* Goldman Sachs Group Inc reopens its crypto trading desk and says it will offer investments in bitcoin and other digital assets to its wealth management clients from the second quarter.

* Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point uses as a custodian cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc, a regulatory filing shows https://sec.report/AdviserInfo/Firms/137927/Form-ADV-137927.pdf.

April 2021:

* Inflows into cryptocurrency funds and products hit a record $4.5 billion in the first quarter, according to asset manager CoinShares.

* UK-based hedge fund Brevan Howard sets up a new fund to invest in digital assets, focusing on a long-only range of digital assets including bitcoin, according to a personal familiar with the matter.

* U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc was valued at $86 billion at the end of its Nasdaq debut, the biggest listing yet by a crypto company.

* U.S. business software firm MicroStrategy, a major investor in cryptocurrency since 2020, says it now holds 91,579 bitcoin.

ACCEPTANCE

Feb. 2021:

* Mastercard unveils plans to support cryptocurrency payments across its network.

* BNY Mellon announces a new unit aimed at helping clients trade and own cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

* The city of Miami votes in favour of a proposal to allow bitcoin to be used to pay city workers and for city residents and businesses to make fee and tax payments with the cryptocurrency.

* Canada’s main securities regulator clears the launch of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, the world’s first bitcoin exchange traded fund.

March 2021:

* Payments processor PayPal allows U.S. consumers to use their cryptocurrency holdings to pay at millions of its online merchants globally.

* Tesla Inc customers can now buy its electric vehicles with bitcoin, its boss Elon Musk says.

April 2021:

* Swiss arm of French insurer AXA allows its customers to pay https://www.axa.ch/en/ueber-axa/blog/trend/bitcoin-cryptocurrency%20.html for non-life insurance products with bitcoin.

($1 = 0.7186 pounds)

(Compiled by Tom Wilson and Tom Westbrook. Editing by Mark Potter)

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